Project for Public Spaces
Madison’s plan draws inspiration from other markets, like this indoor one in Santa Fe, N.M.
Just a few months ago it looked like Madison’s long-awaited public market would be delayed until the next decade. Citing other priorities, Mayor Paul Soglin failed to include any funds for the facility in his capital budget. But recent events, including the announcement that the city’s Oscar Mayer plant will close in early 2017, spurred city leaders to move the project forward with a pledge of $4.25 million in city borrowing for the $14 million project.
The city’s investment, however, is contingent on securing $9.75 million in additional funding from grants, tax credits and donors. And supporters of the project are mobilizing, forming a fledging Friends of the Madison Public Market group, whose members are ready to step up and raise funds.
“There’s definitely lots of interest from all avenues of the community,” says Meghan Blake-Horst, a lead organizer of the new friends group, which already has more than 100 members.
People began talking about forming a friends group to support the market about two years ago, says Blake-Horst. As city discussions progressed, the group became more formalized, creating a Facebook page and meeting more frequently since the project was approved in early November. The group has discussed incorporating as a 501(c)3 nonprofit and is considering operating as a membership-based organization, with perks for those who pledge support.
Blake-Horst expects the organization’s efforts will focus on marketing, publicity and outreach to farmers and vendors as well as fundraising, but the scale of that fundraising is yet to be determined.
“We could do supplemental fundraising, or we could be helping with larger capital campaigns,” Blake-Horst says.
The friends group is waiting for direction from the city, which is in the process of establishing a structure for the public market’s governance and operation.
Dan Kennelly, a city economic development specialist and point person for the public market project, says the city’s business plan strongly recommends that an “independent, not-for-profit organization” should be the operating entity of the public market, but he emphasizes that “the city will always have an oversight role.”
That nonprofit will also play a role in fundraising, grant-writing and outreach. The city’s Local Food Committee is looking at local examples such as Olbrich Gardens and Henry Vilas Zoo as models for governance and operations, committee member Anne Reynolds says. A report detailing the public market’s organizational structure will be complete by March 2016.
The committee is also working on two sets of recommendations — one around the implementation of a business plan written by the city’s consultant, Project for Public Spaces, and one to report on the “public market district concept” — the plan to create a “food innovation corridor” on the city’s north and east sides.
Reynolds says the public market district will serve an important role in the region’s food-related economic development.
“And, of course, the future closing of Oscar Mayer makes some of those discussions more urgent,” Reynolds says.
Food-related businesses are accessible ways for people to enter the workforce — particularly those without a college education, Reynolds says. With Madison’s urban core expanding through development on the east side and the abundance of farmland in southern Wisconsin, investing in agricultural and food production initiatives can aid those entrepreneurial ventures.
“There’s a lot of opportunity across Madison,” Reynolds says. “We’re hoping this effort can catalyze food-related development on the south side, the entire isthmus and beyond.”
But while many applaud the city’s commitment to invest in the local food scene, some are questioning whether Madison needs another commercial kitchen, which is part of the plan for the public market. The nearby FEED Kitchens is still running below capacity, there is additional food business space available at the Madison Enterprise Center, and there are pending plans to redevelop the Garver Feed Mill into a food production facility.
District 18 Ald. Rebecca Kemble says the underutilization of the FEED Kitchens and potential oversaturation of commercial kitchen space came up in earlier discussions about the public market project. But she says the FEED Kitchens’ struggles have been largely due to organizational and administrative issues rather than a lack of demand.
Kemble also points out that public market vendors will have a “built-in need” for kitchen space at the facility for things like packaging and bottling — “needs that aren’t currently being met in Madison,” she says.
But Ald. David Ahrens worries that the city’s enthusiasm to support food-related infrastructure is creating “an issue of oversupply.” He says that supporters of city investment in local food facilities are employing an economic theory based on “supply creating demand.”
“It’s actually the other way around,” Ahrens says. “Just because we have five manufacturers of artisanal crackers doesn’t make people want to buy artisanal crackers.”
Kennelly says the city’s push to create food production infrastructure is important to growing the local economy by staying “out in front of emerging economic trends.” In an era when the demand for locally made and grown food is increasing, he says the city’s role is to foster that economy and make sure all the facilities are working together.
“It’s not competitive,” Kennelly says of the various food-related facilities and organizations. “We’re creating a supply chain.”
